Maybe Dodge will do a 'Cuda version.
New Shelby GT sure to extend the Mustang phenomenon
By Matt Nauman
San Jose Mercury News
General Motors stole some of the nostalgic-mojo momentum from Ford's Mustang by first showing a Chevy Camaro concept in Detroit earlier this year, and then saying it will build the car.
Dodge is doing the same with its Challenger.
But that new Challenger won't go on sale until 2008, and the new Camaro won't arrive until early 2009, and Ford knows it'll sell a couple of hundred thousand more Mustangs between now and then.
To make sure that the Mustang, revised and substantially improved in 2005, stays hot, Ford Motor has started making special versions for enthusiasts and collectors.
We've seen all this before, of course, when that original '64 Mustang spawned all manner of GT, Boss, Mach1, Shelby and Cobra models over the next several years.
So, if everything old is new again as we enter a second muscle-car era -- even if this one is fueled by nostalgia and not cheap gas -- then No. 1 on the charts is the 2007 Shelby GT500, just now reaching dealerships.
Coming next year is a Shelby GT (non-500) version of the Mustang. You also can rent a Shelby Mustang GT-H at Hertz locations in 25 cities. There's even a rumor that Ford will produce a new Mustang Boss in 2007.
After a few days holding the keys to a bright red Shelby GT500 convertible, I can testify that this car draws a crowd.
A pair of delivery drivers outside my favorite Chinese restaurant made me pop the hood. They peppered me with questions after I ate peppered shrimp. (OK, it was orange chicken, but I couldn't resist that parallel construction.) Two moms at our swim club coyly said they wanted to see the car, borrowed the keys and took a ride without asking permission.
That's the enduring appeal of the Mustang -- first spawned at the World's Fair in New York in 1964 -- and its many incarnations. Typical of that zeal is what Patrick Covert writes in "Ultimate Mustang:" "like fireworks on the Fourth of July, the Ford Mustang phenomenon celebrates who we are."
Who we are, circa model-year 2007, is the continued strange mingling of horse and snake. The Mustang is a wild horse. The car is named for a fighter jet, but the galloping horse has grazed on its grille for decades. Yet, on Cobra versions of the Mustang over the years, a ready-to-strike snake replaces the horse. I suppose Carroll Shelby deserves blame or credit for this.
He created a Cobra in 1962 by putting a Ford V-8 under the bonnet of a British roadster. He then allowed both his name and the word Cobra to become associated with Mustang.
Ford, by the way, just calls this car the Shelby GT500, although you could identify it easily as the Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 SVT Cobra.
And while I do love the American beauty and be-true-to-your-school personality of the new Mustang, I remain at least a little unconvinced about the wisdom of the Shelby GT500.
Here's why: The Mustang GT, with its loud-and-proud 300-horsepower V-8 is all about affordable fun. Priced from $26,000 to $32,000, depending on whether you opt for deluxe or premium trim, and hardtop or convertible versions, the Mustang GT is a performance-car bargain. That's why publications such as Consumers Digest name the Mustang as a best buy.
The Shelby GT500, at $43,000 for the coupe and $48,000 for the convertible, is something altogether different. And despite its big boost in horsepower, it's certainly no bargain. Car-shopping sites, such as Kelley Blue Book's
www.kbb.com, show that buyers are paying $65,000 and up for the '07 Shelby GT500.
Thanks to a Roots-type supercharger, Ford says the 5.4-liter, 32-valve V-8 in the Shelby GT500 makes 500 horsepower.
But this one feels somewhat less quick and certainly less sophisticated than other cars I've driven with that much power. Ind